During an interview with the Iraqi paper Al-Mashriq, Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki described what he called "the American plot" in the Arab region. Zaki claimed that the US has destroyed some Arab states and denied others help in order to weaken them so they would be unable to tackle Israel:

"The American plot began by targeting the heart of the Arab nation, by destroying Iraq and Syria, and weakening Egypt... The strong Arab states did not receive support that would enable them to deal with Israel and stop its spread on Arab land."

[Al-Mashriq (independent Iraqi newspaper), Jan. 10, 2016]

Zaki called this a "infernal plot to dismantle the Arab nation, split it, and kill its spirit of solidarity."

The next step in the American plan was, according to Zaki, to create ISIS and with it an Islamic state, whose existence would then serve as the ultimate justification for the need to establish a Jewish state - with no Palestinians:

"ISIS is an American product, necessary for the establishment of an Islamic state in order to justify the existence of a Jewish state, in which there is no place for Palestinians."

Zaki stated that "the Americans were not serious about their attacks against ISIS and eliminating it." As proof of the lenient US attitude toward ISIS, and its "deception" of the world, Zaki claimed that Russia's attacks on ISIS "exposed the American deception":

"The Russian intervention has exposed the American deception, and proven what cannot be questioned - that Washington was not serious in recent years about eliminating ISIS, or even about weakening it."

The following is a longer excerpt of Abbas Zaki's interview with the independent Iraqi newspaper Al-Mashriq:

Headline: "Palestinian leader Zaki to Al-Mashriq: The essence of the American plan in the region - an ISIS state against the Jewish state! Israel takes [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah very seriously, and the Palestinians have not used Iran's support"

"PLO leadership member [Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner of Arab Relations and Relations with China] Abbas Zaki linked the establishment of an Islamic state under the auspices of ISIS with the establishment of the Jewish state on the land of Palestine. He described the plan to establish these two states as the revival and realization of the American concept for the region.

The Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner of Arab Relations and Relations with China [Abbas Zaki] stated in an interview with Al-Mashriq: 'The American plot began by targeting the heart of the Arab nation, by destroying Iraq and Syria, and weakening Egypt.' He clarified: 'The strong Arab states did not receive support that would enable them to deal with Israel and stop its spread on Arab land.' Abbas Zaki stated: 'ISIS is an American product, necessary for the establishment of an Islamic state in order to justify the existence of a Jewish state, in which there is no place for Palestinians.'

He explained: 'The dismantling of Arab societies by taking advantage of the sectarian factor is part of the infernal plot to dismantle the Arab nation (ummah), split it, and kill its spirit of solidarity.' He emphasized: 'The Palestinians have succeeded in overcoming aspirations to separate [them] through their unity around a single goal, the resistance against the Zionist occupation.'

In regard to Russia's intervention in the region, Zaki said: 'Moscow's entry into the crisis has changed the balance and reversed the game.' Likewise, he noted: 'The Americans were not serious about their attacks against ISIS and eliminating it. The American planes, as acknowledged by the pilots themselves, would return with their loads, without having attacked their targets, claiming that the pilots were afraid of killing [innocent] people, while forgetting that ISIS does not care about human dignity. The Russian intervention has exposed the American deception, and proven what cannot be questioned - that Washington was not serious in recent years about eliminating ISIS, or even about weakening it.'

Regarding Palestinian - Iranian relations, the Palestinian leader stated: 'The Palestinians have not taken advantage of the relations with Iran, which has opened an embassy for us and given us support in all ways.' And he emphasized: 'We made a mistake when we distanced ourselves from Iran, and it is our number one supporter.' He explained this distancing as an 'expression of the policies and stances of the Palestinian leadership during the period after Yasser Arafat.'

Likewise, Zaki said: 'Perhaps Israel does not relate to any Arab country, and does not take any Arab seriously, but it takes the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah very seriously, because it knows what Hezbollah's real stance is regarding the Zionist entity.'"